1. Field
The following description relates to an energy management technology, and more particularly to a management apparatus and method for reducing energy costs in a residential area.
2. Description of the Related Art
30% or more of energy production across the world is consumed by buildings, and effective and efficient energy saving policies have been introduced and implemented in many countries to manage and reduce the energy consumption of the buildings. Various energy management systems including a Building Energy Management System (BEMS) are now used to manage energy consumption of commercial buildings.
In addition, a Home Energy Management System (HEMS) has been introduced to help manage energy consumption at home.
The introduction of these systems is partly due to the worldwide agreement on cutting CO2 emission. CO2 generated when producing or consuming energy is the main culprit of the greenhouse effect. To cut CO2 emission, many governments around the world encourage individuals, corporates, and organizations to use energy more efficiently, and have implemented efficient and smart energy saving policies and strategies to meet mandatory reductions in CO2.
Under these circumstances, some commercial buildings have adapted a Building Automation System (BAS) and the BEMS to combine various kinds of information generated in the buildings for energy management. While the BEMS is used relatively widely and considered useful, the HEMS still remains in an embryonic stage of development.
Specifically, the HEMS merely collects and shows energy consumption information on each household with or without environment information thereof.
The HEMS predicts energy usage or energy costs of this month, but it does not require highly sophisticated technologies, as opposed to the BEMS. Specifically, the HEMS usually provides only history information about previous usage and the like (e.g., information for the same month of the last year) so that it is not very practical or useful.
For example, even in the case where some households have the same number of residents with the same structure (e.g., the same-sized house in the same complex) and the same location (e.g., a floor and a direction in which a veranda is faced), electricity costs, water costs, and maintenance fees may vary from household to household. That is, even in the case where a household pays more electric costs twice or more than any other household under the same conditions, the household may not be able to know not only which type of energy is inefficiently used, but whether the household's costs for electricity and water are greater than average costs among other households under the same conditions.
While energy consumption of commercial buildings are managed and analyzed integratedly in the group unit basis, knowledge on how to use energy, manage energy consumption, and solve any energy-related problem is not shared within a residential area due to the fear for privacy infringement.
For example, in the hot summer time, one user may set an air-conditioner to arbitrary target temperature to cool indoor temperature, while another user may set an air-conditioner to operate periodically. However, without comparing the two ways, nobody knows which way is better for reducing energy costs in the environment where the two users lives.
Thus, efforts have been made to propose a method for measuring and analyzing operational states, setting information, and energy consumption of an energy consuming device and providing a user with the measurement. One step further, there is even a method for providing a user with energy usage information on a different user with lifestyle and behavioral patterns similar to those of the user.
In addition, these kinds of methods allows a user to receive energy usage information and energy costs information from a utility company, to share the received information with neighbors, and to be given reward points according to an energy usage pattern, thereby encouraging the user to save more energy. In addition, these methods also allows the user to exhibit energy usage information and energy costs information on a social network service (SNS), for example Facebook.
However, energy usage information, energy costs, and an energy consuming device's operation pattern and setting information are personal information, so users do not want to make it public.
Even when these kinds of information on different households are given, a user does not know how to apply the information to his life. It is because of the following reasons: a user may find it hard to adjust an energy usage strategy according to energy prices that vary from one time period to another time period; every user has a different lifestyle and behavioral patterns; different subsidiary materials, such as sashes, are used in the same-sized house on the same floor; and every user may use different devices.
In addition, electronic cars have been introduced, and the gap between electricity costs among resident living in the same residential area may become greater depending on whether a resident possesses an electronic car and charge it within a residential area.
Furthermore, gas boilers that can generate power have been developed and used, and people can produce electricity at home using the boilers. Thus, simply comparing electricity usage and electricity costs is not a method that can reflect this trend or situation. On top of that, advanced energy technologies, such as solar, wind, hydrogen, and the like, have been introduced and applied to some kind of home appliances. If the home appliances are used at home, it need to analyze or decide whether which energy source is more effective at which point in time.
In conclusion, a residential area, such as an apartment complex or a multi-building complex, provides identical or similar environments to the residents, and each resident manages their own house without well-organized energy strategies. If energy usage of households in the same residential area are managed systematically and efficiently, it will bring great benefits not only for individual households, but for the country.